When Yin and Yang combine
by ShadowDreamPhoenix
Summary: What happens when the best assassin tells his employer no?
1. Chapter 1

A lone figure walked down the darkened hallway. When he reached the door, he placed his hand on the wall to reveal a hand scanner. After the scanner finished, there was an audible click and the door opened for him. As he continued down the hallway, he would stop occasionally to disable the traps along the way. After entering through one last door, he stepped into a large room with a table in the center.

"I see you've returned," said the man at the head of the table. "Was your mission a success?"

"Would you expect anything else?" the assassin replied smugly.

"Watch your tone, Akumu," the man replied. "Remember who you work for."

"Watch who you decide to piss off, Charles," Akumu replied. "I may work for you but don't forget that I'm the best assassin in the world. If I wanted to I could kill all of you in your sleep and find a new employer."

"It seems being known as the best assassin in the world has gone to your head," Charles replied.

After hearing a thud next to his ear, Charles turned and saw a throwing knife embedded in the back of his chair so close to his head that it cut a few strands of hair from his head. The others around the table couldn't believe their eyes. Some were still looking at the knife in the back of the chair while others were now staring at Akumu with a slight look of fear.

"I guess I forgot that it means that as the best assassin in the world it means that your skills are far above that of all the others," Charles said, swallowing audibly. "Since your mission was successful, the money will be placed in your account. We'll contact you next time we need you."

"I noticed you didn't say I was dismissed," Akumu replied with a smirk on his face as he turned to leave. "Oh, before I forget, you might need this. I can never remember which knives are poisoned and which ones aren't."

Akumu placed a small vial on the table. "If your stomach starts to feel likes it burning take this. Otherwise things won't end well for you."

With that Akumu turned and left.

"It doesn't look like the knife cut you though," said one of the men around the table.

But as he said it Charles raised his hand to his ear and found there was blood on his fingers.

"There you are," said a voice.

Zayrine looked up to see her friend, Alicia, approaching.

"Where else would I be?" she asked when Alicia reached her.

"Well you always seem to disappear when that friend of yours is in town," Alicia answered. "And even if he isn't here, you're still hard to find sometimes."

"Didn't think anyone really had to look for me," Zayrine said as she shrugged and went back to reading her book.

"So what do you two do when he's here?" Alicia asked after a moment, a slight grin on her face.

"Not what you're thinking," Zayrine responded with a slight edge to her voice.

"What makes you think I was thinking about anything along those lines?" Alicia asked innocently. "OK, OK, but how I could I not think that kind of thing might be going on when you vanish when he's here and neither of you can be found?" she admitted after Zayrine glared at her.

"I'll give you that. But nothing like that is going on between us. He knows I'm interested in the martial arts, so he usually just shows me a few moves that he's learned in his travels."

"You mentioned that before. What does he do for a living?"

Zayrine hesitated at the question. She knew what Akumu did for a living. She also knew that she couldn't just tell Alicia.

"He doesn't talk about work much. The only thing I really know is that his job requires him to travel a lot."

"Why doesn't he talk about what he does? Is it because he hates his job?"

"I never asked him."

"Oh well, he'll talk when he wants to I'm sure. So when's the next time you'll see him?" Alicia asked with a smile on her face.

"I don't know, but he calls before he does come to visit. And I told things aren't like that between us," Zayrine answered.

"Yeah, I know. Is there any chance of meeting this mystery friend of yours?"

"That all depends on him."

"What does he have against us?"

"Nothing, it's just that he's careful the people who know him."

"If you say so. Anyway, I should probably head home before it gets late," Alicia said after glancing at her watch. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Alright," Zayrine replied. "Be careful on your way home," she added after a moment.

Alicia smiled and waved in reply as she left. When she was gone Zayrine stood and stretched before grabbing her book and heading inside. As she was shutting her door, she froze and stared out into the growing darkness. After a moment, she shut and locked the door. Her mind was still on the figure she saw outside as she headed for her bedroom. As she was heading for her bedroom, she stopped and looked out the window, searching for the figure she saw. When she didn't see anything, she thought her mind might have been playing tricks on her and headed to bed. When she reached her bedroom door, she ran her hand along the frame before nodding to herself. With another glance at her front door, she closed her bedroom door and got ready for bed.


	2. Chapter 2

Zayrine walked out of her room stretching. As she looked around, she shook her head. As the events of last night played out in her head, she started cleaning up the mess that was made. Something told her that this wasn't just a random break-in.

Charles rolled over and felt something metallic on his pillow. He opened his eyes and saw a knife embedded within his pillow a few inches from him. When he sat up he noticed a small piece of paper tied to it. He untied it and saw that there was a message written. Reading the note, Charles eyes grew wide with surprise. Although there was no signature and the message looked like it was typed, he knew there was only one person would could've written it. The message on the note simply stated "I could've killed you." Balling up the note and panic starting to rise, Charles knew that Akumu had walked into his home and placed the note there. He glanced at his wife who was still sleeping soundly. After a quick check, he couldn't see anything that looked like Akumu had done anything to her.

Still with a level of panic, Charles got out of bed, taking the knife with him, and went to check on his daughter. As he walked to her room, he noticed that the knife he was holding was actually from his kitchen. Reaching his daughter's room, he took a deep breath to steady himself and try to calm his nerves. When he felt he was ready, he opened the door quietly and peeked in. His daughter was still sound asleep. A quick glance around her room said nothing had been disturbed. Feeling a bit better, Charles closed the door and headed down to the kitchen to replace the knife he held. Charles knew he had to remember just who exactly Akumu was if for no other reason than to protect his family.

Standing in the airport, Akumu glanced first at his watch then at the board that displayed the arrival and departure times of various flights. He couldn't help laughing to himself about what he did to Charles early that morning. After some thought he decided to make a run to replenish one of his poisons that was running low then go to visit a friend. After buying his ticket, Akumu made his way towards his gate. As he approached a metal detector, he smiled to himself. He had a set of twin daggers in hidden sheaths on his back, but he knew the metal detector wouldn't pick them up. After passing through the metal detector and security without incident, he went to his gate and waited to board. While he was waiting he called his poison supplier to let him know he was on his way. After his flight was called and he boarded, Akumu stowed his bag after pulling a couple things out of it. After he got settled in his seat, he put his headphones on and opened his book to the page he was at. It wasn't long till the pilot made his announcement and the plane began to taxi down the runway.

Charles walked into the meeting room still shaken by the morning's events. As he took his seat at the head of the table, the others noticed that he seemed bothered about something.

"Are you feeling alright, Charles?" Vincent asked him.

"Just a little shaken, that's all," Charles replied.

"Shaken by what?" asked Jase.

"Let's just say Akumu decided to leave me a reminder about just who and how skilled he is."

"You got one too?" Vincent asked, surprising everyone.

"Are you saying he left you a message too?" Charles asked him.

"You could say that. I guess he wanted to make sure my family and I practice good oral hygiene."

"At least yours came in the morning. I think he paid me a visit last night before I got home," Jase said.

"What message did he decide to leave you?" Charles asked him.

"First, he apparently decided to leave my door unlocked for me. Then he decided to rearrange everything in my house."

"Is that it?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah, I don't understand why though. Other than having to move everything back to where it was, there wasn't anything wrong."

"Unless what he did is something hidden," Charles added. "But how about we leave this topic and discuss what we need to today?"

"Well, for starters, it seems one of our associates has failed his task," Vincent said. "What should we do about it?"

"Simple send someone more qualified this time, and be sure to express how important this is and that we won't tolerate failure," Charles answered.

"And what should we do about that area of business that is being interrupted?" Jase asked him.

"Continue on as best as we can."

And with that, it was business as usual for them.

As she was washing dishes, Zayrine suddenly felt that she wasn't alone. Her immediate thought was that it might be someone trying to break in again. However, she started to get a familiar feeling from whoever it was. She suddenly started laughing to herself.

"Can't you ever knock like a normal person?" She called out suddenly.

"I could but this is much more fun," Akumu said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I bet," Zayrine replied glancing at him. "So what brings you by?"

"I need a reason to visit a friend?"

"I guess not, but normally you at least give some warning that you're coming."

"True, but I felt it would be more fun to sneak in this time. Plus, I wanted to see if you've been keeping your skills sharp."

"And what do you think?"  
"I'd say they're as sharp as ever, if not more so. Especially considering you had a break in recently."

"And just how do you know about that?" Zayrine asked surprised.

"Well I wouldn't be a very good assassin if I didn't pay attention to details now would I?" Akumu replied smiling.

"I guess not. But that doesn't exactly answer my question."

"There's still a light scent of blood in the air and you missed a spot under the table in the living room."

"Damn, I thought I got everything."

"Don't worry about it. I'm probably the only one who would've caught it anyway. Who was it that broke in anyway?"

"I have no clue, but it didn't seem like a random break in. It seemed like he was actually after me."

"Maybe it was just coincidence," Akumu thoughtfully.

The look Zayrine saw on his face said he thought otherwise though. She decided against saying anything, however. She felt it better to let him work it out on his own since he could obtain information a lot easier than she could.

"Anyway, other than testing you, I have another reason for visiting," Akumu said after a few moments.

"And just what might that be?" Zayrine asked suspiciously turning to face him.

"Well, I had a few ideas come to mind on the way here," Akumu replied slyly before laughing at Zayrine's angry glare. "Actually I have a gift for you."

"Did you steal it?"

"Of course not, well not this time at least."

Akumu reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a box for a necklace or bracelet and handed it to her.

"You got me jewelry?" Zayrine asked as she took the box.

"Unfortunately no, but if there's something you want let me know and maybe I'll get it for you," Akumu replied with a wink. "Open it and see what it is."

Zayrine just shook her head as she opened her gift. She was surprised to see two metallic spikes laying in the box along with what looked like leather holsters for them.

"And these are?" she asked when she saw them.

"Why don't you take them out and see."

"You love not giving me a straight answer don't you?"

"Now what gives you that idea?" Akumu asked with a sly smile.

Zayrine removed the spikes and set the box aside. Noticing the hand grips on them, she held them out wondering what would be the best way to wield them. While she was holding them, she noticed something under the grips on each one right under her thumb that felt like a button. When she pressed them, a set of side prongs opened up revealing them as a pair of sais.

"They should be perfectly weighted for you," Akumu said as she started to twirl them around. "Also, they're made of a special metal alloy that's nearly indestructible and impossible to be picked by any metal detectors."

"How do you know they won't be," Zayrine asked.

"Because I have a set of twin daggers made from the same metal alloy," he replied smiling. "I walked onto a plane with them still in their sheaths. Speaking of, the sheaths that are in the box will allow you to always have them on you without being easily visible."

"So why get me these?"

"I figured you could use them, especially since sais are your weapon of choice. Hit the button again to retract the side prongs when you're done and want to sheath them."

"Thank you," Zayrine said after setting them back in the box and giving him a hug.

As Zayrine was placing the lid back on the box and taking it into her room, Akumu's phone went off. When he looked he saw he had a message from Charles about a new job.

"Unfortunately, I have to cut this visit short," Akumu said after reading the message.

"Your employers have someone else they need removed?" Zayrine asked.

"That's about the only thing they contact me for. Not surprising since I'm looking at the only one who can really compete with my level of skill," Akumu replied with a wink. "I'll have to talk to you later."

"Alright, but be sure to watch your back out there."

"I Always do."

"I bet," Zayrine replied glancing away for a moment. "So when's-"

Before she could finish her sentence, she noticed Akumu was gone. She just laughed at the fact Akumu always leaves the same way, in the blink of an eye. After checking that her door was locked, she sat down to continue reading her book.


	3. Chapter 3

As she stood there staring her would-be assailant and trying to calm herself down, Zayrine was wondering who might be after her and why. Looking down at herself, she shook her head at the blood on her hands and her new weapons. While in the middle of the fight, she didn't realized they had ended up outside. Looking around, she didn't see anyone else that could've seen the fight. Walking inside, she grabbed a towel and started cleaning her sais. When she was done with that, and getting the blood off her hands, she went back outside to get rid of the body.

As Akumu walked into the meeting room, everyone else grew quiet. Akumu noticed that everyone was looking at him with a different perspective. He noticed that everyone seemed to look at him with either a new level of respect or fear, or possibly both. He smiled knowing exactly why.

"So what exactly do you need me to do now," Akumu asked when he reached the table.

"The usual job," Charles said. "There is someone who seems to be getting in the way of business and we can't have that."

"So who is the unlucky bastard?"

"This man," Charles said turning on the screen behind him. "This is Marcus White. He is currently the commissioner of one our main distribution cities. Unfortunately, we have been unable to gain his loyalty and he proposes too much of a threat to our business. We need him out of the way."

"So what else is new?" Akumu replied "Is there anything specific you want or do I get free-reign over how he dies?"

"At least make it look like it was done by a local thug," Charles answered.

"You don't care if I make it one of your lackeys do you?" Akumu asked with a laugh.

"Whatever gets the job done," Charles said.

"All right then, I'll call you when he's become a corpse," Akumu said as he turned to leave. "Oh one more thing before I leave."

"What is it?"

"You wouldn't happen to be missing an assassin would you?"

"Why would you want to know?" Charles asked.

"Just something I heard about a failed attempt on someone's life. I was curious if it might've been one of your other less skilled assassins."

"Don't worry about that. It's none of your concern."

"If you say so," Akumu said with a shrug.

Even though he could tell otherwise, he decided to let it go for now. As he was walking out the door, he was already going through various plans to take out his next target.

After taking care of the body of the assassin, Zayrine started to send a message to Akumu about the attack. However, she paused when she thought about it. Even though she felt she needed to tell him about it, she decided to hold off on that. She knew she could word the message in a way that he would know what she was trying to tell him without giving away too much information. What stopped her was not knowing if he was talking with his employers at the moment. In the end, she decided to hold off telling him for the time being. Putting her phone in her pocket, she went about cleaning up the aftermath of her fight.

As she was cleaning up, she was going over various details she had picked up about her attacker and the previous attack. Though she couldn't explain it, something told her there was a connection between them, even if she couldn't see it yet. When she was done cleaning, she looked around to check if anything might need to be replaced. After her inspection, she sat down to think about why someone would want to have her killed. Frustrated, she got up and started pacing around. Part of her still wanted to let Akumu know about the attack, and maybe talk with him about why someone would be trying to kill her. She was still hesitant about sending him a message though. She started doing little things around the house as she was thinking about it. In the end, she gave in and sent the message, wording it carefully just in case. With the message sent she sat down and tried to relax. There was nothing left for her to do about it except wait for an answer.

While sitting in a coffee shop, Akumu turned his attention to the TV as the news came on. As the news of the police commissioner's death played, everyone was shocked to hear what happened, everyone but Akumu. While he did watch as if it was new to him, he remained primarily unsurprised by the news.

"Are you shocked about this?" someone close by asked him when they noticed.

"Not really," he replied. "With the world the way it is now, news like this doesn't surprise or bother me anymore."

"Sadly, that is true. I just wish things would get better."

"I'm sure you're not the only one."

After watching the news a bit longer, during which the reporter was talking about how the police arrested a suspect thanks to an anonymous tip, Akumu gathered up his belongings and left. While he was walking down the street to his car, he was thinking over the message Zayrine had sent. His immediate thought was that she was somehow involved in disrupting one of the Senores de las Sombras many areas enough to draw their attention. He tried to think of other possibilities but that seemed the most likely, especially since they had the means of employing the right people for the job. Before just accepting that conclusion, he decided to look into the matter and find out for certain. After getting in his car, he made a few phone calls, one to book a flight, another to let Charles know the job was done. With that taken care of, Akumu headed to the safe house he had in the city to get the stuff he needed before he went to the airport.

After getting off the phone with Akumu, Charles went to his computer to schedule the money transfer. When that was done, he started checking on the other areas of business. He made a couple of phone calls to the others of the Senores de las Sombras. In talking to Jase, he learned that there had been another failed attempt on their target. He reached for the phone intending to call Akumu back and let him know he had a new target, but he had to stop himself. He decided it would be better to consult with the others before he had Akumu go after them. While he was thinking about it, there was a knock on his door.

"It's open," he said.

"Hey honey," his wife said as she entered carrying a glass. "I thought you might want something to drink."

"Oh thank you dear," Charles said as he stood up and went to take the glass from her.

As he took the glass he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"So what are you working on," she asked as he sat back down.

"Just some business related stuff," he replied. "I had to set up a payment transfer for one of our employees. Then I was just checking on the other areas of business."

"Is that all?"

"For now, it would seem so, although, we do have one issue that continues to be a problem."

"Well I'm sure you'll figure out a solution for it."

"I have an idea already. I just want to discuss it with the others first."

"Well that's good. Try not to work too hard, dear," she said as she left his office.

After his wife left, Charles took a sip of his drink before leaning his head on the back of his chair. While he was sitting there, he let his mind wander back to when he revealed what he did to his wife. Like he expected when he told her, she was very disapproving of it. However, after talking to her about it, he was eventually able to bring her around. They were still careful about speaking of it openly. While his mind was wandering, he was started wondering what was making this one target so difficult. The only answer he could come to was that they had some kind of training. But this idea had him worried because no training of any kind appeared in the background search they did.

The ringing of his phone pulled him away from his thoughts. When he answered, it was Riley making her report. Before getting off the phone with her, he told her that they needed to have another meeting the next day. After hanging up, he started calling the others to let them know they needed to meet. When that was done, he decided that was enough for now. Stretching as he got up from his chair, Charles left and locked his office and went to sit down in the living room. After a short while, his wife and daughter joined him and they got comfortable for the day.


End file.
